Are you happy?

It’s a fairly simple question to ask, “Are you happy?”  So, when my wife asked it of me I snarled, “Yeah, I’m happy”… but inside I started to really wonder, as she replied, “You don’t seem happy”

Why wouldn’t I be happy?  I have a job I love, my health, a great home, a supportive family.  Shouldn’t I exude happiness on a daily basis?

I also have meetings and deadlines and bills and responsibilities and I’m internally wired to work all the time.  My internal thoughts and dialogue constantly push me to be better, to do more, and to be number one.

But why?  How did this happen?  What’s REALLY important?

The older I get the more I realize the importance of conscious contact with God.  It really needs to become the focus of my life.  Shouldn’t it be the focus of all our lives?  I’ve written about this before – if conscious contact with God is the most important thing in our lives, why isn’t it the most important thing in our lives?

We’re so caught up in the stream of thoughts that can’t be turned off – the mind is always thinking, always talking, and has no mute button.  Most people believe the thoughts that run through our minds are who we are, what determines us as people.  What we are, though – is the soul behind the thoughts watching everything unfold like watching a movie.  When we start to realize that we are the watcher and not the thoughts we’re getting closer to enlightenment.  Two recent books that I have read go into this – “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle and “The Untethered Soul” by Michael A. Singer.  Both are highly recommended.

To get in touch with “the watcher” we need to quiet our minds.  Yoga and meditation are two great ways to do this.  “The watcher” is that part of us connected to God.  It’s love in its purest sense.  When in contact with this part of your soul, people won’t ask if you’re happy, you will radiate love and happiness.  It does take an effort to get in touch with this part of yourself.

The Dalai Lama said “If every 8 year old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.” Yet the vast majority of people never meditate at all.  The most important thing we can do to create loving, lasting relationships is highly overlooked.

The more contact we have with God, with “the watcher”, the calmer life becomes.  We can start to step back from obsessive/compulsive thoughts and watch ourselves like we’d watch a movie.  But “the watcher” can control the outcome, can make us become unattached from always “being right” or wanting an outcome the mind believes we need.  The more we define our lives from that place within us all that is timeless and eternal, the happier we all will be.

God might have a plan for you that would blow you away.  You’ll never know without seeking Him.

Step back, find the part of you that watches the thoughts.  Get in touch with God, with love, every chance you can.  Look for ways to schedule this into your life.  It’s the most important, most overlooked thing in the world.  God won’t come screaming to you with a deadline to meet, you need to seek Him.  Hopefully instead of asking “Are you happy”, the people we know and love will start asking us “Why are you so happy all the time?” when we do.